The Odd Fates
by TayNeyNey
Summary: Draco Malfoy finds a woman waiting in his study who offers him a chance to rewrite history. What will he say? One shot. D/G with mentions of Scorpius/Lily.


A/N: It's been awhile since I posted anything (Sorry!) but I thought I should make it clear that this is not related to any other stories I have or may publish in the future. It was just an idea that I couldn't help but write. Hope you like it!

Draco Malfoy stepped out of his personal fireplace – so much more convenient to floo home to than the main entrance one – and stopped dead.

A woman stood in his office, her back to him and her hands mindlessly gliding along the spines of books. She looked familiar, if vaguely because none of her features were caught in the fire's light. Draco's mouth was half-open to demand what his wife needed that was so important she had broken into the locked room when a glimmer of the dying fire caught a shimmer in the woman's hair. Red.

Draco must have made some quiet noise that the woman heard because she turned toward the fire, and upon seeing Draco frozen mid-step, she smiled. And Draco was transported back to his years at Hogwarts. A girl with a smile of pure innocence and all the sweetness of melting chocolate sat across from him in the library. Her eyes twinkled with the reflection of the lake as a soft breeze blew her hair around. She laughed as they crept through silent hallways late at night, her voice too loud but so filled with joy that he could not shush her. She invaded his every memory of Hogwarts.

"Ginny Weasley," the name came out clearly despite the dryness of Draco's throat.

Ginny smiled, her brown eyes gleaming with the warmth of her expression. "It's been Ginny Potter for some time now, Draco."

Draco smiled, the old pain long faded after years of pointless agony. He stepped all the way into the room and deposited his work things on his desk, simultaneously shucking off his jacket. All the while he watched Ginny and she watched him in return.

She looked good, of this fact Draco could not lie. There had been a time when he had thought he would never find women over thirty attractive, but here was the proof that he had been wrong. Ginny had aged beautifully. Her smile was the same, and the warmth in her eyes. When she smiled the lines around her eyes and mouth were deeper but this just added to the expression of joy she conveyed. Her red hair had never dulled with aging but still gleamed as it had all those years ago. She had gained weight as all women did after motherhood, but on her curvy form the weight hardly mattered. It softened her, made her perhaps more appealing.

Or perhaps that was just the way she appeared to Draco, who knew without a doubt that he would always find this woman, the first woman he had ever loved, attractive.

"And what did you need Mrs. Potter?" Draco inquired, not unkindly as he attached the title. It was a joke between the two by now, neither wounded by old heartaches. Ginny smiled at the small joke and acknowledged the history with a nod of her head.

"I used to think about visiting you sometimes," she replied, and Draco blinked at the answer that was not an answer. Ginny turned her eyes to the shelves of Draco's study covered in books. She absently ran her hand along the spines again. "I would wake up in the middle of the night and just crave the silence we used to share. For some reason it was always so bearable with you around," she gave a tight smile and turned back to Draco who was fighting his own renewed pain. "But I thought Mrs. Malfoy might not appreciate the late-night visit. How is she?"

Draco clamped down on his emotions, knowing they would get him nowhere and would only hurt them both if expressed. They were not children, caught up in the vengeful need to hurt each other any longer. They were adults and they had mastered interaction. "She is angry at me at the moment." At Ginny's raised eyebrow, he grinned. "She thinks I spoil Scorpius. I suppose, now that he is in his seventh year, I should stop."

Ginny grinned at the paternal pride and protective edge Draco knew echoed in his voice. "He nearly gave me a heart attack," her grin widened as she spoke about his son. "He looks so much like you did at that age. It was like a ghost from the past."

Draco wondered when Ginny had had a chance to see Scorpius lately. The boy did bear a striking resemblance to himself but Scorpius was at school. Draco opened his mouth to ask Ginny about it when she turned from him again and spoke absently.

"Draco," his name sounded wistful coming from her mouth and Draco's lips instantly snapped closed. That sound, his name a whispered sigh of longing and pain and hope, was too familiar to his ears, and had not been heard for some years.

"Ginny," her name came out gruffly, his voice as rough as he knew it would be. He was strangling suppressed emotions. Twenty plus years and he still could not bury his feelings for this woman. Draco loved his wife, and he loved his son, and he loved his life, but he continued to love Ginny despite all that. It was not the naive all consuming love it had once been, but rather a constant pressure at the bottom of his heart that spoke of childhood and dreams and wishes. It often left a bittersweet taste in his mouth.

Ginny's features softened further but her eyes seemed focused far away as she spoke. "That day after the battle when we were standing in the library much like this," her voice hiccuped and Draco's breath stopped but Ginny continued resolutely, "when you told me you did not love me and that I should go back to my family, go back to Harry, and I did," Draco's heart was hurting, as it always did when he remembered that day and finally Ginny turned to look at him and her eyes were steady as her voice wavered, "I should not have."

Draco choked on his next breath as it lodged in his throat. In all the years that had passed, all the times they had seen each other since, Ginny had never mentioned that day and Draco had never dared either. It was the great forbidden topic between them, the thing that had the potential to ruin the careful serenity of being acquaintances that they had built up over the years. And now that the words were out there Draco was fighting the urge to spill his torment outward: how he wished he could take back that conversation, how he wished that he had not been a coward, how he wished that he had done something other than give up.

Ginny continued without looking at him and Draco could only listen to her speak. "I realized later that you had been lying when you said you did not love me, but it was much too late to try and fix it by then." She turned to him with a twisted little smile that told Draco this hurt her as well, and that eased some of his pain. "I realized that day I saw you at the train station, the first time you sent Scorpius off to Hogwarts."

Draco recalled the day, recalled how his eyes had automatically been drawn to the flaming red hair and then to Ginny's warm eyes. He remembered the slight greeting to Potter, and then the internal struggle to stay away from Ginny. That had truly been the first time they had been anywhere near each other since the battle's aftermath. It had hurt more than Draco had been prepared for.

"I wish almost every day that I had realized sooner," Ginny continued in a whisper, her eyes still focused on Draco swallowing up the distance of the entire room between them. "I wish that I had confronted Blaise about it. I always did suspect him of having a hand in your decision."

Draco managed a weak smile. "Blaise made me see the logic that I wanted to be blind to."

Ginny frowned slightly, a flash of irritation sparking in her eyes. "Logic, indeed," she sniffed. "Blaise claimed he was protecting me when I confronted him about what he said to you."

Draco's eyes widened. "Did he tell you what he said?"

A catlike smile danced across Ginny's face. "After I hexed it out of him."

And suddenly they were both smiling at each other, the heartache again abating, wearing down to the years. It was odd, Draco decided, to be able to stand in the same room as Ginny like this and discuss the loss of love without emotion taking over. But he supposed that love even like that - all youth and innocence and lust and hunger - would fade with time and understanding, to be replaced by other loves and other memories. He was not bitter towards Ginny, and she was no longer bitter towards him. It was almost peaceful, having her here in his study.

Silence stretched on for a moment while they stared at each other as if reliving shared memories.

Ginny was the first to break it again. She looked down at her hands which were twisting in front of her. "When you decided to lie to me, to force me back to my family," she sounded sad again and it hurt Draco to know that he was the cause even if he knew that she did not hate him for it, "did you do it because you knew that our families would never allow it?"

"Yes," Draco croaked out. He cleared his throat and then continued, "I knew that my father and perhaps even your father would never have allowed it. I knew that it would take years to bring your family around and that Harry would be badly hurt which would in turn hurt you. I also knew that you could be happy with Harry if I could force you to choose him. I did not want to force you into that many years of pain when you could be happy."

Ginny looked up and her eyes shined in a way that Draco had not seen for twenty some odd years. She loved him still, he could see it. The way that Draco loved her was reflecting out of Ginny's eyes. And it eased the pain lodged deep in his heart.

"It took me years to realize all of this," she whispered, striding forward and then sitting down gratefully in one of the two chairs facing Draco's desk. She looked as though a weight had also been lifted from her own heart. "I never knew you would be so selfless in the end."

Draco snorted and sat down as well, facing her over the desk. "I was not selfless, and believe me the urge to be selfish nearly overwhelmed me many times. But I have always wanted you to be happy Ginny. I only wish it could have been different."

Ginny's eyes filled with tears but they did not spill. She stared at him as if weighing something and when she finally spoke, her voice was hesitant. "Draco, do you think if we had had different fathers, or if our fathers had been different, it could have worked between us?"

Draco blinked and then sat back slowly. He had never considered the question and that Ginny would ask it after so many years shocked him. "Why do you ask, Gin?"

A slight smile graced her face. "Just answer the question."

Draco pursed his lips. "Yes, I think if our fathers would have given in it would have been different. But Ginny, aren't you happy?"

This time Ginny did smile. "Yes, Draco I am happy. I love my children and I love Harry, just as you love your wife and your son. That's what this about."

Draco's brow furrowed.

"Your son," Ginny breathed out and Draco was surprised to see amusement sparkle in her eyes. "That foolish, romantic idiot came over to my house today."

Now Draco really was surprised, though how Ginny knew what Scorpius looked like now made sense. "Scorpius came to your house," Draco repeated, "why?"

Ginny met his eyes now and her's absolutely glowed with mirth. "This is when I need you to remember how much you love your son, and how much it would have helped us if our father's had been more understanding."

Draco's heart stopped for a moment and then quickened its beating.

"It seems that Scorpius and Lilly have been secretly dating for about a year and a half now," Ginny laughed, her own eyes still slightly disbelieving. "Scorpius came over today to confess that he loves her and wishes to be able to see her. Apparently since he is graduating and won't see her at school, he decided this was the logical thing to do."

Draco sat back in his chair and repeated what Ginny had said earlier, "Foolish, romantic idiot."

Ginny laughed again. "I thought Lilly was going to murder him. It was quite a sight, him dragging her into the living room. I had to snatch Harry's wand before he could hex the poor boy. You must give your son credit though, facing down the great Harry Potter."

Draco could only shake his head while his thoughts spun. His son in love with Ginny's daughter. The fates were a cruel and odd bunch. He could not imagine his reserved son falling for the spitfire he knew Ginny's daughter to be. But then again, hadn't he done the same?

"Anyway, the whole story came out then, and of course, Harry was furious and Lilly too," Ginny sighed. "It appears that she is the logical one this time. Scorpius on the other hand looked to me, as if knowing that I was on his side."

"I never told him anything," Draco interrupted, still mystified at his son's behavior.

"I didn't think you had," Ginny smirked. "But when he pleaded with me, well I couldn't very well say no. I asked him when he intended to tell you, and well that took his courage right out of him. Are you a scary father, Draco?"

Draco laughed at the light teasing.

"Anyway, then I really took pity on the poor boy. I floo'd over here immediately knowing that the password to your private fireplace was probably the same password you used for anything. Really Draco, you should change that. And now here I am, and I would like very much if you would consider this before apparating to my house and yelling at your son."

Draco let the words fade into silence as he tried to wrap his head around the idea that his son was in much the same situation he had been in at that age. In love with a Gryffindor with a family that would love to kill him. He couldn't imagine what Ron Weasley's reaction would be. But Ginny was right. Where she and Draco had been forced to separate, their children now had a chance.

Draco rubbed his eyes and sighed, suddenly very amused. "You left Scorpius at your house?"

"Yes, but don't worry. I took Harry's wand and should James and Albus come downstairs I doubt Lilly would let them hurt him. She has perfected, and dare I say, improved my Bat Bogey hex."

Draco shuddered at the thought and then looked at Ginny. She sat with the fire gleaming off of her hair and her eyes dancing with the possibility they had before them. And Draco knew instantly that he would do whatever he could so that his son could have the chance he had lost. All he had to do was look at the woman in front of him and he knew he could never deny anyone that kind of love.

"Is she very like you, Lilly?" he asked.

Ginny smiled. "She certainly has the temper and the hexing skill and apparently the same taste in men. She has my hair but Harry's eyes. And she has my stubbornness plus some. I doubt that if I told her no she would listen about this, even if it wasn't her idea."

Draco smiled back. "Scorpius also has inherited my stubbornness. I shudder to think what would happen if I forbade him anything."

Ginny's smile suddenly grew. "Does this mean…"

Draco stood up and put his coat back on quickly. He offered a hand to Ginny. "Let's go talk to your fool of a husband. I do believe we have a history to rewrite."

When Ginny slipped her hand into his, Draco felt the shift. He had lost Ginny some years ago and had ached to simply hold her hand since, knowing that he would never get the chance again. Now, clasping the freckled hand tightly, he knew that he had gotten her back, but in a way he had never considered. The pain in his chest flared momentarily, acknowledging that this new change would force a new wall in between the two, but then it died out. His pain paled in comparison to the fact that he was giving his son the chance for the love he had lost, the chance to put aside everything else in the world and give into something that made him truly and utterly and completely happy. The chance to love a wild, redheaded Gryffindor who had stolen his heart without his permission. Draco was glad of the chance to let his son live happily ever after.


End file.
